Video Workout/Interview With Former DIII All-American Chris Erichsen, Who's Training For The Olympic Marathon Trials He's only run 2:18:24 (in his 2nd marathon), but the emailer who sent this to us said, "I'm not saying Chris is going to make the Olympic team. I'm not even saying he'll be top 10. But ... I know he's on the verge of something special. He's not sponsored, he's not being called a contender. But semi-pro, pretender
or whatever you want to call him, when people start chattering about the Hall's, Ritz's and Meb's at the halfway point, a guy from southeastern Minnesota is going to be throwing knock-out blows as he moves up through the field somewhere not too far behind."

The Running Story Of The Year

Japan Running News Recaps The Life And Career Of Sammy Wanjiru Barcelona Olympics marathon silver medalist Koichi Morishita: "The people who were supporting Sam were only motivated by the money flowing around him, not from the heart, and they didn't give him the kind of support he really needed. You hear a lot of disturbing things about his family too, his wife, and I can't help but think that he should have
had
more people around him who cared about his soul."

More US Open And Millrose

LRCUSATF Trying To Continue The 99-Year MSG Track Tradition Continues With The US Open USATF is attempting to put on a fan-friendly 2-3 hour meet (instead of 6 hours) with the promotional
muscle of MSG behind it with a focus on the pros and a few select high school races. Since MSG is helping promote the meet there is a chance for success. Will the meet make changes to entertain fans once they get in the door to bring them back for year 100? See below.

LRC Emails Track And Field: Entertain Or Continue A Slow Death An email from an LRC visitor: "The Millrose Games as you knew it no longer exists. So what? Why should any track athlete or fan care?" got Wejo to think about our sports slow decline and what needs to be done to change it. Entertaining meets with good matchups. An another emailer who co-authored books with both Bill Bowerman and Bill Dellinger says why not have a pro Millrose (at the Garden) and a separate amateur one (at the Armory)?

Yesterday: LRCHow The Millrose Games As We Knew Them Died On October 2, 2009, steps were put into place to give the Armory the rights to the Millrose name. Considering the mission of the Armory and the declining attendance, it was only a matter of time before the meet moved.

Recommended Read Portland Tribune Writer Feels For Portland's Rob Conner As He Loses Trevor Dunbar To Supposedly Better Program (Oregon) The author points out that Portland has been better than Oregon at the West Regional 5 of the last 10 years and only two Ducks have run faster than the Pilots' best 5,000 man at 13:40 and concludes his piece by writing, "Doesn't seem
right. That's life, I guess." Portland coach Rob Conner also says it doesn't seem fair to him and it's pointed out that Portland actually cares about the athletes' well-being and releases them, whereas Oregon doesn't return the favor.

A Brief Chat With Desiree Davila "If you can make it in Houston, you're going to be on one of the best Olympic teams ever. It's great for the sport and it's really exciting for women distance runners."

Q&A With Ryan Hall He doesn't plan on running conservatively and says, "I'm not at all thinking I'll have the luxury of running any easier than all-out." Also talks about trying to get his brother, Chad Hall, into marathoning.

Catching Up With 27:28 Man Tim Nelson Runners World calls this a "Brief Chat," but it's actually very long and full of useful info. Nelson talks honestly about his training and prospects for the Olympic team, which he rates as being an "outside chance" if everything goes perfectly. He gives insight into a 20-24 mile tempo run at 5:30 pace the entire group did
together (including Teg & Jager) even talks about the Schumacher
versus Alberto group rivalry.

Upcoming

Virgin London Absolutely Stacked Again
Keitany Vs. The Two KiplagatsThe 2012 women's Virgin London Marathon field was announced on Monday and it is absolutely stacked. You've got 3 of the 4 top marathoners in the world squaring off and 15 women who have run under 2:25. Keitany, the 2011 Champ who ran like a maniac in NY, will take on 2010 NY and World Champ Edna Kiplagat and Berlin champ and 2:19 runner Florence Kiplagat.

LRCBoys: Cheserek Outkicks Futsum For The Win
This race lived up to its hype as the top 2 African-born stars went mano-a-mano until the final 100m. After a cat-and-mouse 9:50 opening 2 miles, their last 1.1 was run at a pretty quick pace (4:31 mile pace), but the winning time of 14:51.5 wasn't close to Reina's 14:36 CR.

Men: LRCWisconsin Badgers Take Control Early As Lawi Lalang Dominates Lawi Lalang waited until 5k before deciding it was time to crush the competition
once and for all, while #1 Wisconsin
showed no fear and put a stranglehold on the competition from the very beginning and held off a belated charge from Oklahoma State and a surprising Colorado team as the Cowboys tried to three-peat. American Chris Derrick took home individual runner-up honors to cap a brilliant career in style. *Discuss

Junior College Cross-Country Champ Could Face DeportationAyded Reyes is a top runner with a 3.5 GPA who has been offered scholarships to many universities (including an Ivy League school), but spent 5 days in prison when it was discovered that her parents brought her to the US from Mexico illegally when she was 2 years old.

Bill Matthews Battles Epilepsy While Striving Towards His Olympic Dreams He has some decent performances under his belt, as he was the Southeast Foot Locker Regional champ in 2008 and ran 14:17 as a college freshman. However, currently he is not cleared to compete and will have to have surgery ito remove a brain tumor which has been causing seizures. We wish him all the best and ask you keep him in your prayers.

Still Reviewing 2011

Recap Of Irish Marathon/Half Marathon Performances Five went under 2:20 when in the last 4 years, only two had. Mark Kenneally led with 2:13:55, although with a 1:00:49 half marathon best, if Alistair Cragg ever finishes a full marathon, he should crush that.

... And Good For A Laugh: EatRunSwag's Top 5 WTF? Moments Of 2011 "The obvious highlight of last years USA Track and Field Championships was Galen Rupp's Pollen Mask, created specially for people who are sensitive to breathing in air. Most of the country already sees our sport as a joke, thanks for continuing to give them something to laugh at Peter Pan."

Australia Projecting Its Lowest Medal Haul In 20 Years For London This puts a lot of pressure on Sally Pearson to win gold. She says the best way to deal with it is "Just say no to the outside influences ... It sounds selfish, but you have to be selfish to be the best athlete. I have to put my needs first. I have to put my training first and my competitions - and everything else comes second."

TMFKAMG

LRC Wejo Speaks October 2, 2009: The Day The Millrose Games As We Knew Them Died Our very own Wejo did a little research and tells you why they Millrose
Games as we all knew them died not this past spring with their announced departure from Madison Square Garden, but on Oct. 2, 2009,
when plans were quietly put in place to give the Millrose Games to the
Armory Foundation. Then considering the mission of the Armory and the
state of track and field in America, it was not surprising that in only
two years, Dr. Norb Sander, the head of the Armory, would go from
saying, "This (the Millrose Games) is the flagship event of indoor track
and field
and its presence at the Garden is crucial" to telling Wejo, "I'm not
sure we left it (the Garden) reluctantly. It's (the Armory) a
better place to have the Millrose Games than the Garden for track."
Fortunately, 98 years of tradition have not been completely tossed aside,
as USATF is hosting the US Open at the MSG this year, the 99th straight
year track will be at MSG.

Quitters Never Win Meet Colombia's 1s 2nd-Ever World Championships Medallist - TJer Caterine Ibargüen The former HJer wanted to quit the sport when she failed to qualify for
the Olympics in 2008 but now she has a bronze in the TJ. "When I failed
to qualify for the 2008 Games, I felt depressed, like I wanted to quit the sport." It was pointed out to us in an email that her teammate, Luis Fernandez, beat her out for the first ever medal by 3 days in the 20k race walk.

Women: LRCGeorgetown, Reid Win Tight BattlesSix women kicked for home over the last 400m of the race but in
the end it turned into the duel
many expected and Sheila Reid of Villanova got the narrow win over Jordan Hasay.
The big surprise was in the team's race, where the Georgetown women, who were only third at Big East, won by eight over Washington as #1 Florida State faltered and finished 4th. *Discuss

He Will Be Missed Adam Goucher Retires Goucher is having knee surgery on Friday and says his competitive racing career is over. We've always said that one way to judge whether a runner's
career was a good one or not is simple: Were They Good Enough That They Could Retire Or Just Quit? Goucher certainly is retiring, as he had an INCREDIBLE career - Foot Locker champ, NCAA champ indoors, NCAA champ outdoors
and NCAA champ in XC, USA champ in XC and track and an Olympian. Goucher is a runner at heart and we wouldn't rule out seeing him in the 2016 Marathon Trials.*MB:Adam Goucher retires

LRC 2:05:06!!! Geoffrey Mutai Caps Year In Style An unbelievable year in men's marathoning had an appropriate finish, as the Kenyan man who had the most unbelievable of all years, Geoffrey Mutai, smashed the previous NYC Marathon record by a stunning 2:38 - that's two minutes and 38 seconds. If it wasn't the greatest 2nd-greatest men's marathon performance
ever, you'll have to tell us what was. American Meb Keflezighi hung with the leaders for 20 miles after a blistering 63:16 1st half and ended up with a much-deserved PR. Mutai picked up $200,000 by winning, but the big financial winner was runner-up Emmanuel Mutai, who won $635,000 ($500,000 for the WMM title).

LRC Mary Keitany Beats
HerselfThe women's race was full of gut-wrenching
drama, as Mary Keitany went out in a crazy 67:56. The problem was she came back in 74:42, as unheralded Firehiwot Dado (Rome
Marathon champ) got the win.